Final Results
Golden Prospect Precious Metals Ltd
31 March 2008
GOLDEN PROSPECT PRECIOUS METALS LIMITED
Preliminary Profits Announcement
16 October 2006 (date of incorporation) to 31 December 2007
The financial information set out in this announcement does not constitute the
Company's statutory financial statements. All the figures are based on the
annual report and audited financial statements for the period from 16 October
2006 (date of incorporation) to 31 December 2007.
Investment Manager's Report
Introduction and Background
Golden Prospect Precious Metals Limited ('the Company') has now completed its
first year of operations, albeit an extended one. The Company began investing in
precious metals equities following its admission onto AIM on 28 November 2006.
During the period between the Company's formation on 16 October 2006 and its AIM
admission, it was operationally dormant. Ambrian Capital plc, the parent
organisation of the Investment Manager, supported the Company at its launch by
transferring in £9.4 million of its precious metals equity portfolio in return
for an equivalent holding in the Company. At the same time, the Company raised a
further £3.5 million through a placing with financial institutions. For each
ordinary share, investors also received one warrant in the Company. The placing
price of each ordinary share and warrant was 100 pence.
Performance Summary
Following set-up and issue costs of £490,824, the Net Asset Value ('NAV') of the
Company immediately after its AIM admission was 96.20 pence per share. By 31
December 2007, the NAV had increased to 111.22 pence per share, representing an
increase of 11.2% on the issue price of 100 pence per share and a gain of 15.6%
on the opening NAV of 96.20 pence per share.
During the period under review, the Company made a profit before tax of
£1,946,223 on income of £2,705,319.
Period to 31 December 2007
The Company made a good start during the first half of 2007 with its NAV
increasing to 114.84 pence per share by 30 June 2007. During most of this time,
the Company's shares traded at a premium to its NAV and were always comfortably
above their November 2006 issue price of 100 pence. The premium to NAV reflected
the high level of interest in the Company by key investors and interest in the
commodity sector in general. The US sub-prime mortgage crisis reversed this
situation from August 2007 onwards. The resulting blind sell-off particularly
hit the small and medium capitalised companies as well as many mining and
commodity related equities with little regard for the underlying fundamentals of
each business. The result was that the Company's NAV declined to 93.61 pence per
share by 31 August 2007, its lowest published level during 2007.
From late August to the end of 2007, the bullion prices of gold, silver and
platinum each increased by over 20%. The drivers behind this included the
progressive switch by investors into safe-haven investments as a result of the
credit crisis and fears over the scale of its potential fall-out, inflation
worries, rising oil prices, political unease (particularly in the Middle East)
as well as a healthy demand for the metals for use in jewellery and industrial
fabrication applications. The higher bullion prices in turn fed through into
higher equity prices in the precious metals sector, particularly for the larger
companies in production. The Company's NAV benefited from this during September
and October. Unfortunately, renewed sub-prime and credit crisis fears in
December caused a further deterioration in stock market conditions and again
affected the smaller capitalised holdings in the Company's portfolio. These same
conditions also caused the Company's share price to decline during December to a
mid-market share price of 96.5 pence.
Portfolio and Top Ten Holdings
The Company's portfolio contains a diverse range of holdings from large
international corporations in production to small companies which are actively
developing defined mining projects through to production. At 31 December 2007,
the Company held investments in 47 companies and had 46% of its gross assets
invested in companies with a market capitalisation greater than £250 million.
At 31 December 2007, the top ten holdings were:
Company Value (£) % Gross Assets
Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation* 2,298,865 13.57%
Lihir Gold Limited 1,061,577 6.27%
Resolute Mining Limited 1,037,331 6.12%
Jubilee Platinum PLC 985,500 5.82%
Mano River Resources Inc 978,535 5.78%
Great Panther Resources Limited 808,043 4.77%
Gold Resource Corporation 655,581 3.87%
Centamin Egypt Limited 585,000 3.45%
Pan African Resources PLC 540,000 3.19%
Mintails Limited 533,729 3.15%
9,484,161 55.99%
Note: The Company was originally a shareholder in both Coeur d'Alene Mines
Corporation* and Bolnisi Gold NL. Following the former's acquisition of the
latter for shares in December 2007, GPPM owned 932,000 shares in Coeur d'Alene
which at 31 December had the value of £2,298,865. The Company has since sold
332,000 Coeur d'Alene shares, reducing its holding to 600,000 shares.
At 31 December 2007, the Company's portfolio by sector (allocating each
investment entirely to the company's primary resource, except as noted below)
was:
Investment % of Portfolio
Gold 63%
Silver 17%
Platinum and Palladium 7%
Diamonds 4%
Uranium 8%
Cash 1%
100%
Note: The allocation for Coeur d'Alene Mines Corporation, Mano River Resources
Inc and Mintails Limited was divided between each company's two main resources.
Gearing
The Company entered into a rolling £3.0 million loan agreement with Allied Irish
Banks plc on 20 March 2007 and subsequently drew down £2.4 million of this
facility. On 20 March 2008 the Company renewed this agreement subject to revised
terms. The funds drawn down remains at £2.4 million.
Period since 31 December 2007 and outlook
The price of gold at 31 December 2007 was US$834 per ounce having risen steadily
throughout the proceeding year. Since then it increased further to over US$1,000
per ounce in the middle of March before declining back to around US$940 per
ounce at the time of writing. This takes it past the previous all time high of
US$850 per ounce which occurred in January 1980 and, with it, the market into a
new territory. The prices of other precious metals have also shown similar
strength and volatility during this time. For example, that of platinum rose
from US$1,537 per ounce to over US$2,200 per ounce before it fell back to its
current level of around US$2,000 per ounce. The price of silver tells a similar
story. It increased from US$14.76 per ounce and briefly eclipsed US21.00 per
ounce before it too declined to its current level of around US$18.20 per ounce.
These volatile movements in bullion prices are feeding through into the
Company's NAV and they make it difficult to be clear about the short term
outlook. However, there are four key positive trends which the Investment
Manager believes will work to the Company's advantage in the medium term:
• Investors are increasingly seeking exposure to gold and gold based equities
for all the classic reasons (weak dollar, instability, etc - as previously
outlined).
• The prices of precious metals based equities typically lag that of the
bullion until an established trend has emerged. This is now coming through
despite the turmoil in the market during the last few months. While the
producers are generally experiencing higher costs (labour, equipment,
materials and fuel), the traditional relationship of higher precious
metals prices positively impacting on bottom line profits, and hence
share-price, still holds true.
• An increase in corporate activity as the larger producers seek to obtain
the in-ground resources they require to secure their future production.
• The intervention by the US and some European Central Banks to provide market
liquidity will help to improve investor confidence and with it increase
equity share prices.
The Board of Directors ('the Board') and Investment Manager maintain their
belief that the strong precious metals prices will continue for the foreseeable
future and that this will feed through in a positive way into the Company's NAV.
The Directors and Investment Manager would like to take the opportunity at the
end of the Company's first complete year of operations to thank investors for
their support. We continue to believe that the Company's portfolio is well
positioned and that events will show this to be the case.
Ambrian Asset Management Limited
28 March 2008
The Preliminary Profits Announcement was approved by the Board of Directors on
28 March 2008.
Contact at Ambrian Asset Management Limited: Robert Rasbach
Tel: +44 (0)20 7634 4882
Fax: +44 (0)20 7634 4881
robert.rasbach@ambrian.com
Income Statement
For the period from 16 October 2006 (date of incorporation) to 31 December 2007
Revenue Capital Total
£ £ £
Income
Dividend income from equity securities
designated at fair value through profit or loss 34,328 - 34,328
Interest income for financial assets that are
not at fair value through profit or loss:
Cash and cash equivalents 54,543 - 54,543
88,871 - 88,871
Net gains on financial assets at
fair value through profit or loss - 2,614,792 2,614,792
Gains on foreign exchange - 1,656 1,656
Total income 88,871 2,616,448 2,705,319
Expenses
Performance fees (92,400) - (92,400)
Investment Management fees (220,258) - (220,258)
Administration fees (64,933) - (64,933)
Custodian fees (12,923) - (12,923)
Directors' fees (65,220) - (65,220)
Audit fees (10,200) - (10,200)
Transaction costs (43,396) - (43,396)
Brokerage fees (49,068) - (49,068)
Directors insurance costs (12,000) - (12,000)
Registrar's fees (10,000) - (10,000)
Other expenses (45,234) - (45,234)
Total operating expenses (625,632) - (625,632)
(Loss)/profit before finance costs and tax (536,761) 2,616,448 2,079,687
Finance costs
Interest expense for financial liabilities
that are not at fair value through profit or
loss:
Loan payable (128,297) - (128,297)
Loan arrangement and commitment fees (5,167) - (5,167)
Total (loss)/profit for the period before tax (670,225) 2,616,448 1,946,223
Withholding tax (4,738) - (4,738)
(Loss)/profit for the period (£674,963) £2,616,448 £1,941,485
Basic (loss)/earnings per Ordinary Share (pence) (5.22p) 20.24p 15.02p
Diluted earnings per Ordinary Share (pence) 7.51p
The 'Total' column of this statement represents the Company's Income Statement,
prepared in accordance with IFRS. The supplementary 'Revenue' and 'Capital'
columns are both prepared for information purposes only.
All the items in the above statement derive from continuing operations.
Statement of Changes in Equity
For the period from 16 October
2006 date of incorporation) to 31
December 2007
Realised Unrealised Other
Share Share Capital Capital Revenue Distributable
Capital Premium Reserve Reserve Reserve Reserve Total
£ £ £ £ £ £ £
Balance as at 16 October 2006 - - - - - - -
Gain on Securities designated at
fair value through profit
or loss - - 1,455,345 1,159,447 - 2,614,792
Gain/(loss) on foreign exchange - - 2,677 (1,021) - - 1,656
Loss for the period - - - - (674,963) - (674,963)
Total recognised income and
expense for the period - - 1,458,022 1,158,426 (674,963) - 1,941,485
Issue of Ordinary Shares 12,927 12,913,779 - - - - 12,926,706
Issue costs relating to the
issue of Ordinary Shares - (490,824) - - - - (490,824)
Transfer to Other
Distributable Reserve - (12,422,955) - - - 12,422,955 -
Balance as at 31 December
2007 £12,927 £- £1,458,022 £1,158,426 (£674,963) £12,422,955 £14,377,367
Balance Sheet
As at 31 December 2007
£ £
Current Assets
Financial assets at fair value through profit or loss 16,748,178
Cash and cash equivalents 188,464
Receivables 3,254
191,718
Current Liabilities
Payables and accruals (162,529)
Loan payable (2,400,000)
(2,562,529)
Net Current Liabilities (2,370,811)
Total Assets less Current Liabilities 14,377,367
Equity
Ordinary Share 12,927
Capital
Share Premium -
Revenue Reserve (674,963)
Other Distributable 12,422,955
Reserve
Other Reserves 2,616,448
Total Equity 14,377,367
Number of Ordinary Shares in issue 12,926,706
Net Assets Value per Ordinary Share (pence) 111.22 p
Cash Flow Statement
For the period from 16 October 2006 (date
of incorporation) to 31 December 2007
£
Cash flows from operating activities
Profit for the period 1,941,485
Adjustment for:
Gains on financial assets at fair value through profit or loss (2,614,792)
Gain on foreign exchange (1,656)
Withholding tax 4,738
Operating cash flows before movements in working capital (670,225)
Increase in receivables (3,254)
Increase in payables and accruals 162,529
Purchase of financial assets at fair (19,909,872)
value
Sale of financial assets at fair value 5,776,486
Withholding tax (4,738)
Net cash used in operating activities (14,649,074)
Cash flows from financing activities
Proceeds from issue of Ordinary Shares 12,926,706
Issue costs relating to issue of Ordinary Shares (490,824)
Loan advanced 2,400,000
Net cash generated from financing activities 14,835,882
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents 186,808
Net cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period -
Effect of foreign exchange rate changes 1,656
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period £188,464
It is expected that the full Annual Report and Financial Statements of the
Company will be mailed to shareholders shortly and a copy will be available on
the Company's website www.gppm.co.uk.
This information is provided by RNS
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